SUV Review: 2004 BMW X5

2004 BMW X5

Handout, BMW

by
David Booth, Canwest News Service | August 10, 2011

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There is something about the smell of a new BMW. I don’t know if it is the leather the German automaker uses, if there’s a special chemical in the air conditioning system to give its trademark smell or if the company just sprays massive doses of Liz Taylor’s Eau de Filthy Lucre from stem to stern. But open the door to anything wearing the blue-and-white propeller logo and you are greeted with the most unique odour in the automotive business.

Of course, the allure of BMWs goes far beyond the olfactory. The boys from Munich know a thing about performance as well. Whether it’s for the road holding that made the company famous or the high-tech powerplants that seem to be its current calling card, BMW is known for making sedans feel like roadsters — and sport-utes that feel like sedans.

The company long said it would never produce an SUV. But, of course, that’s when BMW still owned Land Rover and didn’t want to be seen tripping over its own toes. As soon as the British purveyor of all things muddy flew the coop to Ford, however, BMW hot-stepped development of its X5. This pretty much did for SUVs what the 3 Series has done for near-luxury sedans. Known in official BMW parlance as a sport-activity vehicle (SAV), that seemingly innocuous change in nomenclature allowed BMW to dispense with the need for absolute off-road worthiness, instead concentrating on its traditional core values of spirited performance and precise handling, albeit with a high-rise styling and all-wheel drive.

The first X5 set the standard for sport-ute handling; in its stock form it was easily superior to all its competitors, and in its later-released 4.6iS guise, it literally left them on the trailer.

But it’s almost 2004 and the now five-year-old design is getting a little long in the tooth. Competitors such as Infiniti’s somewhat cheaper FX45 have been nipping at its heels as of late and Munich needed to respond with an update.

Those expecting a complete rehash of the X5 platform will be disappointed. From the outside, only the front and rear fascias are different, and even though the trademark kidney grille is larger and the front bumper has larger intake ducts, the 2004 is still very much the X5 we all recognize.

Underneath the skin, however, there’s much that is new and high tech. BMW has seconded the 745’s acclaimed Valvetronic V8 and slipped it under the X5’s hood. As with the 745, this means the 4.4-litre V8 has the world’s most sophisticated variable valve timing system.

More importantly, it now has 315 horsepower (down from 325 in the 7 Series because of exhaust and intake plumbing). BMW claims a seven-second zero- to-100-kilometres-an-hour time. This seems conservative considering there is also 324 pounds-feet of torque. And since the Valvetronic engine was the sweetest- revving engine available in any luxury sedan, the X5’s version is easily the smoothest in any SUV.

In liberating the V8 from sedan duty, the X5 also gained BMW’s new six-speed automatic transmission. Slick shifting, incredibly responsive, the Steptronic tranny is one of the best slushboxes on the market. I never even used the manual-shifting option and never missed the six-speed manual gearbox that is available on the six-cylinder-powered X5 3.0i.

The 3.0i’s engine soldiers on pretty much unchanged, which means it boasts 225 hp and 214 lb-ft of torque. Those are decent numbers to be sure, but the X5 weighs in at more than 2,100 kilograms and so the in-line six languishes 1.6 seconds behind the V8 in the zero-to-100 acceleration sweepstakes. Since this is already one of the nicest engines around, it very much deserves for BMW to wave its Valvetronic wand over it and give it a healthy updating.

The other side of the performance equation is the X5’s handling, which has always been leading edge. Only now eclipsed by the company’s own smaller and more agile X3, the X5 is, nonetheless, an exemplary handling SUV. And it’s improved this year with the more sophisticated xDrive all-wheel drive system.

Similar to the X3’s drivetrain, the more sophisticated system can alter the power delivery front to rear mid-corner to prevent under- and oversteer. Of course, mid-December in Toronto isn’t the place to test handling prowess, though the X5 should benefit from the higher-tech driveline.

This brings us around to the X5’s traditional bugaboo. Make sure, before purchasing BMW’s top-of-the-line SAV, that you want its combination of size and handling because the ride is definitely sports car stiff. This was, no doubt, exacerbated by the optional 19-inch rims, but nonetheless the X5 does not coddle. The smaller X3, by comparison, handles as well, or better, with a more compliant ride.

The X5’s other major failing is that, despite its largish size, cargo capacity is rather mediocre. With just over 50 cubic feet available behind the rear seats, the trunk area is hardly larger than some sport-cutes. And the split, clamshell tailgate design is unwieldy, making you either reach over the tailgate or reach past the lowered gate to put groceries in the rear. An optional sliding load floor helps alleviate this last situation.

None of this diminishes the X5’s allure. If you want the best- performing, sweetest-handling SUV, BMW is your best bet. It’s just that now you have to choose between the X3 and the X5.